Büyük Vatankhah () or Ezzatollah Vatankhah () (born February 1, 1942, in

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

) is a retired Iranian football player and currently a scouter. He has played in Rah Ahan, Taj, Shahin and

Persepolis Persepolis (; ; ) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and ...

. After he retired in 1972, he became manager of

U20 team and then selected as first-team manager in 1975. He is the first Iranian manager that could win Iranian top division league. His younger brother, Reza, was a team mate at Persepolis for many years. Büyük Vatankhah is part of the first generation of contemporary Iranian football players. According to interviews he has given to Iranian press, football was his passion from an early age, a sentiment which angered his traditional father who wanted his son to pursue more "mainstream" activities. In the early 1950s in

, playing football beyond a certain age was very much stigmatised. He was only 17 when he first played for the Iranian national team, and it was only then he told his family about his great passion. His career took off after he began to play for Shahin and then played for Paykan only to later return to Shahin and soon thereafter join the start-up Persepolis. He is one of the original Persepolisis. He continues to live in his beloved Tehran, although he has made many visits to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

States. Büyük has a son, Alex Vatankha, currently a Senior Fellow at Middle East Institute and Jamestown Foundation.

References

Notes

* Persepolis F.C. managers Footballers from Tabriz Persepolis F.C. players Living people 1943 births Esteghlal F.C. players Iranian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Iranian football managers Iran men's international footballers {{Iran-footy-defender-stub